St. Maarten Private Eye

This new arrangement is not correct for a few reasons:

- first of all it is going to cost the persons objecting against the issuance of a planning permit an arm and a leg, because legal representation in court does not come for free;

- secondly an opinion from a so-called "Committee of Experts" will still be necessary, lest a judge can not rule on the merits of any objection at all;

- thirdly, the legal process is long and tedious, whereby parties get plenty of opportunities to claim, counter-claim, etcetera; the process of dealing with matters could well extend to years and no developer is going to wait for the outcome of that;

- fourthly, it is about time that this EROP is replaced by proper zoning of areas remaining that could still be zoned; but that zoning is going to be costly, because if the Island Territory decreases the value of properties because of its zoning, this same regulation contains wording, that the land-owners will have to be indemnified (paid) for their losees, and as we all know the island does not have money for that;

- finally, it is my opinion, that this whole new procedure is an invention from the commissioner because he is tired of the headaches he is getting from all these protests, and having to deal with them, at the same time appeasing the people in whose pockets he is "supposed" to be.

And obviously a planning-permit for Mullet-Bay is just around the corner, and when it comes to legal process we know who will have the deepest pockets, and we would still be held in limbo for years, while the legal process takes place........ Ansari does not mind to wait!!

Just my five cents!!!

Observer1602

I am very worried about this new proposal that the Commissioner made without consulting the public, especially NGO's that have a right to object to planning and building permits that are not in line with keeping the environment into consideration.
This new proposal according to me will make things very difficult for environmental groups and Community councils to lodge a complaint.
Environmental groups and community councils on St.Maarten function on the goodwill of the boards that work for no money, they hardely collect any donations and most cannot afford a lawyer.
If I have this new idea that the Commissioner has undertaken correct, if groups still lodge complaints and objections by the second planning permit, we have to go to court?
I am sorry, but I cannot support this idea, and I am hoping that the Commissioner will explain more about this new plan.
We have had situations where a first planning permit advised a pond to stay unaltered, some groups did not object as this was with keeping the environment.
The second planning permit then advised that the pond can be moved, altered, removed etc. ofcourse the groups that did not object in the first round could not legally object in the second round.
Well, environmental groups then learned that the best way to handle this tactic is to object to all planning permits.
This way we are sure we will have a chance to object incase VROM and the Commissioner pulls off another such act.
Observer 1602, you are right when you state that it is high time to introduce proper zoning, this is what has to be done.
I can only hope that the Island Council pays attention to this issue and try to either get more info on this new plan of the Commissioner or put a halt to it.
In any case, if I understand correctly what the Commissioner is proposing, then I am against it.